Angela Gossow reveals the unexpected audition that brought Lauren Hart into Arch Enemy

Lauren Hart did not initially know she was being considered for the lead-vocalist position in Arch Enemy when she was asked to record a cover of one of the band’s songs. Former frontwoman and current manager Angela Gossow has now described the unusual recruitment process in a new episode of Knotfest’s She’s With The Band podcast.

I know Lauren since she kind of popped up with [her previous band] Once Human, the first and the second record they released. And I noticed her because there were a lot of comparisons between me and her, actually, vocally. And also she’s a very energetic person on stage. And she did an interview where she said that ‘Wages Of Sin’ basically inspired her to do these kind of harsh vocals. So this obviously popped up in my feed as well, and I thought that’s very interesting and cool to see.

I always find it interesting when people say, ‘You are my influence’, but they sound completely different. I mean, they go some place else with that influence. I guess what we all do, but it’s just interesting to follow. And there weren’t so many females around in metal, so I kind of followed each and every one of them. And, yeah, I think we started talking a while back just casually back and forth because Once Human wasn’t happening, and Lauren was just looking for something else to do, and I really liked some of her covers she was doing. So I just told her one day, ‘I think you should be in some sort of hybrid between Arch Enemy, Dimmu Borgir and Machine Head,’ vocally speaking.

And she said, ‘Yeah, if ever anything comes up, if you could…’ Because I was thinking about approaching musicians, basically, from a management point of view, put something together, a new group of people, because you don’t just apply for positions that are already taken. Most bands do have their singers, and singers do become iconic after a while. You don’t just replace the singer in a band. So I had the idea of actually doing that with her or for her, and I was just asking around and thinking about who I could ask. That’s a while back. And then we obviously… Well, I think it was pretty shocking when I one day asked… I just asked her if she could do an Arch Enemy cover, just to test it out, test the waters. She didn’t even know what was that about.”

I guess it was kind of like my moment in metal, when Arch Enemy asked me [to join the band]. I recorded a track as well from ‘Wages Of Sin’, ‘Enemy Within’, and then after that they asked me if I’d like to continue with the rest of the album. So that was a bit of a surprise to me as well. I thought ‘I’m just auditioning a track in the studio,’ which was already a big thing for me. I’d never been to a studio, let alone with [Swedish producer Fredrik Nordström]. I mean, he was such a legend at that time. He’d just done the Dimmu Borgir album. And, yeah, he was the guy in metal in Gothenburg.

Continuing to speak about the audition, this is what Gossow added.

She did really well. She had her worries and fears, but she did it. And I figure if somebody just goes and does it, they got quite some balls. That’s what you need. Plus, yeah, I knew that she had experience of touring. You can’t just go and ask… I mean, off the bat, I would have maybe known three people I would have asked at the time, because it had to be so quick. It happened so quickly, so we were just kind of without a singer in December [of 2025] and we’re, like, ‘Fuck, we just wanna continue touring and we wanna continue the band.’ So she had to be really fast… She had to go through the motions quickly.

But what was going through Lauren’s mind at that time?

Yeah, it was a huge turning point in my life. I’m super grateful. I couldn’t be happier. I was just so happy that Angela was even communicating with me at that time. I’m, like, ‘Oh my God, this is great.’ I mean, she doesn’t fuck around, you know? So whatever it was for, I was 100% all in. I was in there right away recording. And, yeah, I did think at first it was for a side project, ’cause she was very interested in my Dimmu Borgir cover. Whatever it was, I knew it was gonna be amazing. And, of course, I picked [Arch Enemy’s] ‘Ravenous’ because that’s my absolute favorite.

That’s the song that got me screaming back when I was 15, 16 or whatever it was. And it’s funny because even though Angela and Arch Enemy has been the reason I started, I never thought I could cover those songs. I never wanted to touch them. I thought they were untouchable — god status. But then when I finally did that song, it just felt so… I can’t even explain it. It just felt like it was already this part of me. It’s been with me since I was a kid, and whenever it came out, it was so raw and real, and I was going through shit, and it just… Even Angela said, ‘When you scream, it’s very therapeutic.’ And that’s very true. So, yeah, I couldn’t be happier. It all went really well.

Upcoming shows:

• 10/28 — Worcester, MA — Palladium Worcester
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• 10/31 — Montreal, QC — Olympia
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• 11/19 — Los Angeles, CA — 1720 Warehouse